An immersive, coming-of-age debut novel by a stunning new voice in fiction, for readers of Barbara Kingsolver and Ann Patchett.
A GOOD ANIMAL
by Sara Maurer
St. Martin’s Press, February 2026
In the farm fields surrounding Sault Ste. Marie, a border town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, time seems to stand still. Summer, the sun scalds the local boys’ necks as they bale hay for cash. Winter, the girls bundle up against the cold and jostle through the high school halls like trailered sheep.
Most kids dream of leaving, but Everett Lindt plans to stay on his family’s sheep farm, develop his own herd, and eventually rebuild the crumbling homestead that looks over the land he loves. When he meets Mary, a Coast Guard brat determined to set out on her own, he soon feels he can’t live without her. After she discovers she’s pregnant, he’s convinced she’ll stay by his side forever. Mary, however, is desperate to find a way out. With limited access to reproductive care, Everett and Mary discover a solution with potentially disastrous consequences.
Intimate and haunting, A GOOD ANIMAL is a breathtaking story of the complexities of love, the beauty and brutality of rural life, and how one decision can echo through generations and shape who we become.
Sara Maurer lives with her family in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Albion College and master’s from Eastern Michigan University. She honed her creative writing craft while completing Stanford’s Continuing Studies Novel Writing Certificate program. Her short fiction can be found in The Chicago Review of Books, The Twin Bill, Dunes Review, and The Hominium, where her short story was just nominated for the Pushcart Prize. A Good Animal is her first novel.
Early praise:
“An aching, exquisite story of young love, curtailed by a country where our freedoms have to be bought, A Good Animal is a stunning, unforgettable, and deeply American novel. It is about sex and strength and hard, satisfying work; about dreams and opportunities and what we lose, have lost, are still losing. It’s about where we come from, where we’re going, and who breaks our hearts along the way.” —Julia Phillips, author of Bear and National Book Award finalist Disappearing Earth
“A Good Animal is a wonderful debut novel filled with tremendous heart and an authentic appreciation for place and the natural world…You won’t be able to stop reading this deeply affecting story of star-crossed love and hometown heartbreak.” —Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs and A Forty Year Kiss
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